Stamp vending machine



Feb. 5, c WALKER STAMP VENDING MACHINE Filed June 7, 1932 INVENTOR B Y Czar/66 W/fer,

W W l- A TTORNE Y5 Patented Feb. 6, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE My invention consists in new and useful improvements in vending machines and has for its object to provide a machine particularly adapted for vending stamps and similar merchandise fed from a roll or the like.

Another object of my invention resides in the coin controlled mechanism for feeding the stamp strips and automatically severing the individual stamps, the number of stamps fed and severed being controlled by the coin of the respective denomination employed.

With the above and other objects in View which will appear as the description proceeds, my invention consists in the novel features herein set forth, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawing in which numerals of like character designate similar parts throughout'the several views,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the entire vending machine.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view showing the interior and working parts of the device. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section taken on line 33 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4 is a detail of the magneticallycontrolled knife for severing the individual stamps.

In the drawing, 1 represents a casing or housing which may be composed of any suitable material, its top wall being provided with coin chutes 2 and 3 which extend into the interior of the casing 1 as hereinafter set forth. 7 4 represents a roll of stamps carried on a drum 5 rotatably mounted intermediate the side walls of the housing 1 adjacent one end of a platform 6. The platform 6 extends horizontally within the casing and terminates at the opposite end in a curved receptacle 7 which protrudes from the front Wall of the casing. A motor 8 is operatively connected through suitable gearing 9 to friction rollers 10 and 11 arranged above and below the platform 6 adjacent a suitable opening in said platform, whereby when said motor is in op'eration, said rollers will grip the strip 12 and feed the same forward on the platform 6, unreeling the roll 4. Adjacent the forward end of the platform I provide a knife member 13 which is pivoted intermediate its ends on asuitable support 14, and immediately below the blade portion of said knife the platform 6 is provided with a transverse slot 15 which is adapted to accommodate the cutting edge of the knife. The opposite arm 13a of the knife is normally pulled downwardly by a spring 16, thus retaining the cutting edge 13 in elevated position as shown in the drawing. 17 represents an electro-magnet arranged adjacent the upper face of the arm 13a by means of which, at predetermined intervals as hereinafter described, the arm 13a is drawn upwardly which in turn causes the cutting edge 13 to engage and sever the stamps from the strip 12.

At a predetermined point in the platform 6 I provide a selenium cell 18 and immediately above the platform 6 in line with the selenium cell 18, I provide a lamp 19 whereby the strip of stamps 12 is caused to pass between these two elements as it is fed to the knife '13. The cell 18 and lamp 19 are so positioned with respect to the platform 6 and strip 12 that the perforations in the strip will successively fall adjacent the selenium cell at the proper interval to cause the electro-magnet 17 to be energized through the medium of the selenium cell and thus sever the stamps as they are fed forward.

20 represents a hand rod, the forward end of which projects through the front wall of the easing 1, said rod extending rearwardly in the easing and terminating in a bayonet projection 21. The upper face'of the rod 20 carries a longitudinally extending arm 22 pivoted at 23 with its free end normally resting on a pin24, said free end carrying atransverse finger 25 for engagement with the coins inserted through chutes 2 and 3 as and for the purpose hereinafter set forth. The hand rod 20 is normally retained in inoperative position by a suitable spring 26.

27 represents a rack bar normally held inoperative by a spring 28 interposed between the rear end of the bar 27 and the rear wall of the casing 1, the forward end of said bar terminating in a bayonet projection 29 which lies beneath the bayonet projection 21 on the hand rod, as clearly shown in the drawing. Along the underside of the rack bar 2'7, 1 provide a series of teeth 30 adapted to be engaged by the upwardly projecting teeth 31 and 32 at opposite ends of the pivoted lever 33, A spring 34' normally holds the tooth 31 in engagement with the teeth 30 on the rack bar, said tooth being released therefrom by the energizing of an electromagnet 35 as will appear from the following descrip-- tion of the operation of the mechanism.

36 designates a contact lever pivoted at 37 and normally forced in clockwise direction by a spring 38, said lever 36 when in engagement with a contact member 39, completing the electric circuit for energizing the motor 8. The upper end of the lever 36 is adapted to abut the forward end of the rack bar 27 as at 40, and when said rack bar is in inoperative position as shown in Fig. 2, the pressure of the spring 28 is sufiicient to overcome the pressure of the spring 38 and thus breaks the contact between the lever 36 and contact 39 to de-energize the motor 8.

Adjacent the forward end of the bayonet projection 29 on the rack bar 27, I provide a switch member 41 which comprises a pivotally mounted arm 42 adapted to abut the free end of the bayonet projection 29. This arm 42 as will hereinafter appear, is adapted to engage a contact 43 when in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2, and in order to retain this arm 42 in its two extreme positions, I provide a double spring member 44. The switch member 41 also includes a hinged abutment 45 arranged adjacent the underside of the hand rod 28, said abutment being in direct line with the movement of the lug 46 carried by the underside of the rod 20, said lug being adapted to ride over the abutment 45 in its rearward movement without affecting the position of the arm 42, the return movement of said lug affecting the rotation of the arm 42 on its pivot and causing the same to engage the contact 43.

47 and 48 represent stationary platforms arranged just below the discharge ends of the coin chutes 2 and 3, the platform 4'7 being in line with the smaller or dime chute 2, and the plat form 48 in line with the larger or nickel chute 3, whereby when a coin is deposited in the respec tive chute, it will fall onto the adjacent platform and be retained in upright position until the mechanism is operated, after which the coin will drop from the platform into a suitable coin receptacle provided for that purpose.

49 represents a control block which is secured to the rear wall of the casing 1 and projects forwardly to a point adjacent the coin chutes 2 and 3, its forward end terminating in a series of longitudinally extending slots 50 and 51, the forward edge of the block adjacent the underside of the slot 51 forming a concaved abutment 52 in direct line with the normal movement of the transverse finger 25 carried by the arm 22.

The operation of this coin controlled stamp vending machine is as follows:-

In the absence of a coin on either of the platforms 47 or 48, the transverse finger 25 carried by the free end of the arm 24 will engage the abutment 52 on the forward edge of the block 49 and prevent the operation of the mechanism.

-Now, assuming that a five cent piece is deposited in the chute 3, it will drop onto the platform 48 and the rearward movement of the hand rod 20 will cause the arm 22 and the transverse finger 25 to ride up over the periphery of the five cent piece and thus direct it into the slot 51 which permits a continued limited rearward movement of the hand rod 20. In this movement, the end of the bayonet projection 21 engages the vertical portion of the bayonet projection 29 on the rack bar and forces the latter rearwardly a predetermined distance, the teeth 30 in the rack bar ride past the upright tooth 31 on the lever 33 and being held in their final position by said tooth 31.

The contact lever 36, being relieved of the pressure of spring 28 through the rack bar, is now forced into engagement with the electric contact 29 and thus energizes the motor 8 which causes the stamps in the strip 12 to be fed forwardly by the friction rollers 10 and 11. During the rearward movement of the hand rod 20 just described, the lug 46 has ridden over the hinged abutment 45 without affecting a change in position of the arm 42, but upon releasing the hand rod, the spring 26 returns the same to its forward position, and during this return movement, the lug 46 engages the abutment 45 and causes the arm 42 to swing on its pivot into engagement with the contact 43, it being held in this position by the spring 44. At the extreme inward position of the hand rod 20, the coin on the stationary platform 48 is rolled off into a suitable receptacle 85 not shown.

The closing of the contact at 43 energizes the lamp 19 and as the strip of stamps progresses on the platform 6 to a point where the transverse perforations in said strip lie between the lamp 19 and selenium cell 18, said cell is energized by the light rays projecting through the perforations. This causes electric current to flow to the electromagnet 17 which causes the knife 13 to swing on its pivot and sever the forwardmost stamp which is then deposited in the receptacle 1'7. At the same time, the cell 18 energizes the electro-magnet and causes the lever 33 to be momentarily withdrawn from the teeth 30, permitting, through the medium of the tooth 32, the return of the? rack bar for a distance of one tooth, and as the motor continues to feed the strip forward and the body of the stamps interrupts the rays of light passing to the selenium cell 18, the electromagnet 35 is deenergized and the spring 34 returns the lever 33 to engagement with the re spective teeth on the rack bar. This intermittent or step by step return of the rack bar is continued as the perforations successively arrive adjacent the selenium cell until such time as the 1m forward end of the rack bar 2'7 abuts the contact lever 36 and breaks its engagement with the contact 39, to immediately stop the motor. Simultaneous with this shutting off of the motor, the forward end of the bayonet projection 295 abuts the arm 42 of switch 41 and rotates the arm on its pivot to the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2 where it is retained in place by the spring 44. This of course breaks the circuit leading to the lamp 19 and in turn prevents further current "1 flowing to the electro-magnets 1'7 and 35.

The operation of the mechanism upon the insertion of a ten cent piece is practically the same as that just described, that is, the arm 22 rides over the periphery of the coin, which, due to the location of the platform 4'7, is elevated to a greater extent and the continued rearward movement of the hand rod causes the arm 22 to engage the long slot in the block 49. Obviously this permits the rack bar 27 to be moved rearg, wardly a greater distance, and consequently its return to disengage the motor is prolonged and permits the feeding and severing of a greater number of stamps.

From the foregoing it is believed that the construction and advantages of my invention will be readily understood by those skilled in the art without further description, it being borne in mind that numerous changes may be made in the details disclosed without departing from the spirit of the invention as set out in the following claims. 7 What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A stamp vending machine comprising a casing, a strip of stamps in said casing, electrically actuated means for feeding said strip forwardly in said casing, an electrically actuated knife for severing stamps from said strip, a coin chute in said casing, means for receiving coins from said 150 chute and for retaining the same on edge, a reciprocable hand rod, means associated with said hand rod for controlling the inward stroke thereof through the medium of said coin, a rack bar mounted adjacent the inner end of said hand rod and adapted to be actuated by the inward stroke of said hand rod, an electric switch actuated by the movement of said rack bar for controlling the operation of said feed means, a second electric switch actuated by the movement of said hand rod for controlling the operation of said knife, and means for automatically releasing said switches after a predetermined number of stamps have been fed and severed.

2. A stamp vending machine as claimed in claim 1 wherein the return of said rack bar to its normal position automatically disconnects said switches.

3. A stamp vending machine as claimed in claim 1 including a selenium cell arranged on one side of said strip of stamps, an electric lamp arranged in direct line with said cell on the opposite side of said strip, said selenium cell being electrically connected to said knife actuating means, whereby when a row of perforations in said strip of stamps arrives adjacent said selenium cell, the latter will be energized through the medium of the rays from said lamp passing through said perforations, to actuate said knife.

4. A stamp vending machine as claimed in claim- 1 including a selenium cell arranged on one side of said strip of stamps, an electric lamp arranged in direct line with said cell on the opposite side of said strip, said selenium cell being 1 electrically connected to said knife actuating means, whereby when a row of perforations in said strip of stamps arrives adjacent said selenium cell, the latter will be energized through the medium of the rays from said lamp passing through said perforations, to actuate said knife,

said selenium cell and lamp also being adapted to control the operation of said automatic switch release means.

5. A stamp vending machine comprising a casing, a roll of stamps contained in said casing, a horizontal platform in said casing adjacent said roll and adapted to support a strip of stamps, electric means for feeding said strip forward on said platform, an electrically actuated knife for severing stamps from said strip, a plurality of coin chutes in said casing, means for receiving coins from said chutes and for retaining the same on edge with their peripheries at different elevations, a hand rod adapted to reciprocate in said casing, means associated with said hand rod for controlling the inward stroke thereof through the medium of the respective coins, a rack bar adjacent the inner end of said hand rod and adapted to be actuated thereby, an electric switch for controlling the operation of said feed means, said switch being closed upon the rearward movement of said rack bar, means for retaining said rack bar in its inward position, a second switch actuated by the return stroke of said hand rod for indirectly controlling the operation of said knife, means controlled by said second switch for automatically returning said rack bar to inoperative position, and means on said rack bar for releasing both of said switches upon said return movement.

6. A stamp vending machine as claimed in claim 5 wherein said means for controlling the stroke of said hand rod comprises an arm pivoted to said hand rod, a longitudinally slotted block arranged in line with said arm, and means carried by said arm for engaging the periphery of a coin inserted in either of said chutes to cause said arm to ride up over said coin and engage the respective slot in said block.

CHARLES WALKER. 

